University presidents call for large increases, student leaders opposed

The Arizona Board of Regents will meet today to set next year's tuition and dorm rates, discuss making tuition more market-based for some graduate professional programs and consider multi-million dollar research contracts that are up for approval.

University of Arizona President Peter Likins has asked the Regents for a 12.4 percent, or $300, tuition increase for residents, and a 9.7 percent, or $1,000, increase for nonresidents.

If approved, it would be the largest dollar-amount tuition increase in at least 30 years for both in-state and out-of-state students.

"This 12 percent increase is going to put some students out of school if we do it all at once," Noah Molotch, a hydrology and water resources graduate student, told Regents at an April 16 hearing on tuition.

UA student lobbyists announced on April 8 that they are opposed to any tuition increase, but student governments at Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University are advocating small increases to keep pace with inflation.

Associated Students of the University of Arizona President Ray Quintero said tuition is increasing because of cuts in state funding UA has experienced this year.

"It's not students' responsibility to be paying for downfalls of the state and Legislature," Quintero said earlier this month.

Likins, though, is joined in support for large tuition increases by the presidents of ASU and NAU, as well as UA Provost George Davis, who said earlier this semester that he would support a $1,500 in-state tuition hike over three to five years.

The university presidents are likely to meet with the opposition of at least two regents. Jack Jewett and Chris Herstam have already voiced their support for an in-state tuition hike of about 4 percent, or about $100.

Likins will also request that tuition for the master's of business administration program be increased by $2,000 for residents and $1,000 for nonresidents, that tuition for juris doctor law students be increased by $500 to $3,250, and master's of law tuition be increased by $1,500 for resident and nonresident students.

The Regents will look at making tuition more market-based for some professional graduate programs, MBA and law, which would mean tuition could vary thousands of dollars within set ranges from year to year, depending upon market factors.

Tuition for a full-time student seeking a master's of business administration degree could range from $8,000 to $15,000 per year, for example.

Likins' proposes MBA tuition be set at $9,000 this year.

Tuition will not be set for College of Medicine students because students were notified of a tuition hearing too late under Arizona Board of Regents rules.

The UA will also seek a $305 per person increase in residence hall rates. Rates for nine-month leases of UA owned and leased dorm rooms and apartments would range from approximately $2,500 to $5,267 per person after the increase.

Included in the proposed increase is a $35 per person fee "to support cultural, educational and social programming in university residence halls," according to the Regents' meeting agenda.

The Regents will also consider eight research contracts anticipated to be worth up to $120 million total.

The largest proposed contracts are a $48,836,298 contract with NASA for imaging research and a $28 million contract with Lockheed Martin.

The regents will meet at Northern Arizona University today and tomorrow.